


hand mirror

by Murf1307



Series: blue skies forever [5]
Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Darwin is Alive, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Motel room, POV Character of Color, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 13:32:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13928142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murf1307/pseuds/Murf1307
Summary: An AU of ‘Blue Skies Forever.’ After rescuing Alex from the clutches of Bolivar Trask in December 1969, Armando finally kisses her, for the first time in seven years.





	hand mirror

**Author's Note:**

> First posted in the BSF project!
> 
> This is sort of a “trailer” or sneak peek of the series I’m working on, _blue skies forever,_ which is my definitive Alex-as-a-trans-girl universe. So you can look forward to that!

She’s doing her makeup in a hand mirror.

Something about that feels _wrong_ to Armando — she deserves much better than all the shit she's been through, but he knows that, for now at least, this is all he can give her. For fuck’s sake, they've only just escaped a man who wants to kill them; why is he so dissatisfied with that, just because Alex’s mirror isn't big enough?

He exhales quietly and lays back against the headboard, resting there as he keeps watching her.

He remembers the day they met, how she’d seemed unwieldy in her skin, and that first night, when Charles and Erik had taken one room and put him and her in another. The first time he’d made her laugh, it had been with a joke about Charles and Erik maybe needing some private time.

She’d been beautiful even then, in her short hair and men’s clothes. Now, the situation feels different, feels more painful. Her hair’s just as short from another imprisonment, and she’s skinnier than he remembers.

But she’s still beautiful. She’ll always be beautiful to him.

“You watchin’ me?” she asks him, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” he replies, nodding.

She hmms a little bit, like she doesn’t think she’s much to look at. But then, she’s always been like that.

He cracks his neck. “You sure that mirror’s big enough?”

She huffs a laugh. “I think we’ve got bigger problems than the size of my hand mirror. Trask’s gonna keep chasing us ‘til we’re dead.”

“Then we’ll keep running. Go to Canada, or Europe, maybe.”

“You got the _money_ to do that?”

He sighs. “No,” he admits. “Not yet. Not Europe, anyway. Canada shouldn’t be too hard, though, right?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I won’t get drafted, so I never had to think about it.”

“Right, of course.” He smiles at her. This, at least, he’s grateful for — given her “condition,” she’s never going to have to deal with that. He has to keep an ear to the wind for himself, of course, but at least this is one thing _she_ doesn’t have to fear.

“Have you been?” She looks at him with a sudden edge of panic. “Is that why —“

“No, no,” he reassures her, sitting up. “Nothing like that’s happened.”

She sags a little with relief. “Good. God. For a second there…”

He gets off the bed and goes over to her, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. “I promise you, I’ll let you know if I get a letter. If I ever even find out — not sure if the government knows I’m alive,” he teases.

She winces. “Fuck, ‘Mando, that’s not funny.”

“Sorry,” he murmurs, kissing the top of her head again. “Forgot you don’t like those jokes.”

She looks up at him, smiling just a little. She flushes, and, almost hesitantly, says, “Kiss me right and I’ll forgive you?”

It surprises him, just a little bit. They’ve never quite crossed that line before, not since he died and came back. God, he’s wanted to, but the time was never right. One or the other of them has always been too afraid.

“Of course, sweetheart,” he says, leaning down.

Her lips meet his, and she hasn’t put lipstick on yet; they’re a little chapped, but he doesn’t mind, too wrapped up the feeling of kissing her for the first time in seven years.

She’s blushing when he pulls back to breathe. He can’t stop smiling.

If you looked in that hand mirror, they’d both seem to glow. 


End file.
